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Vehicle Rules
The following is a comprehensive list of vehicle rules, designed to work with vehicles of all kinds including land, air, sea, underwater, and even planar. While these rules are reminiscent of those contained in the Skybourne Player’s Guide, these rules have been expanded to cover vehicles of all kinds, and to account for all forms of travel. Rules for building vehicles can be found here. Statistics Vehicles, at their simplest, are simple objects meant to move creatures and objects from one location to another. Vehicles, at their most dangerous, are terrifying weapons of war. Vehicles come in all shapes and sizes. Some are pulled by other creatures, while others have powerful engines pushing them along. All vehicles have the following game statistics though. Pilot Vehicles need pilots. Without one, a vehicle is simply a run away object out of control. And for the larger vehicles, this can be extremely dangerous. A pilot is a creature who directsa a vehicles' movements, and when required, makes checks on behalf of the vehicle. Pilots go by many different names for different vehicles. Helmsman, driver, navigator, or other names all come to mind when describing the role of a pilot. Pilots use Profession (sailor) when directing a sea or air vessel, or Profession (driver) when directing a land vehicle. If two creatures are fighting over a vehicle's controls, each pilot makes a Grapple check, with the winner gaining control. Every vehicle has a single spot where the driving device, or controlling device, rests. This may be as simple as a set of reins, or as complex as a whole console of levers and buttons. The pilot must be adjacent to this device in order to control the ship. A pilot may only be aided by one creature (a co-pilot) when making Profession checks to pilot the vehicle. When using a flying vehicle, the pilot makes Profession (sailor) checks in place of Fly checks, receiving the same bonuses or penalties due to wind severity, size, or any other circumstantial modifier. Head Engineer Head engineers oversee a vehicle's means of propulsion. The pilot and head engineer may be one in the same creature in the case of vehicles pulled by animals, or smaller vehicles. Often though, due to the size of a ship and the demands of an engine, the head engineer is a different character than the pilot. When required, a head engineer will make engineering checks to maintain the vehicle. This skill varies by the means of propulsion. Vehicles pulled by creatures requires Handle Animal checks, or Diplomacy or Intimidate checks when the pulling creature is sentient. Alchemical engines require Craft (alchemy) checks to maintain. If sails are the means of propulsion, then Craft (ship) is used. Magical engines require Spellcraft to properly operate. If the means of propulsion doesn't fall in any of these categories, and is not otherwise specified, then Craft (mechanical) is the default skill. A head engineer may only be aided by a single creature when making engineering checks. This is not including an engine’s required crewmen, who must be present for the engine or method of propulsion to even work correctly. Crew Magical, mechanical, and alchemical engines all require a team of people to keep the engine in working order. Each engine will list the required crew. If an engine is manned by less than this required number but at least half, then it produces only half its power. If an engine is manned by less than half but at least 1/4th the required crew, then it produces 1/4th its power. No engine can run with less than 1/4th of its required crew at a time. Note that these numbers indicate a single 8-hour shift; often, a vehicle must possess 3 times the crew in order to travel for a full 24 hours per day. This crew can be composed of a Crew army type or teams of Sailors (for air and sea vessels) or teams of Drivers (for land vehicles). Hardpoints A Hardpoint is any roughly 10 ft. cube of space aboard a vehicle. Hardpoints are the framework for vehicles. They are like a currency spent on the various rooms, weapons, and engines a vehicle possessed. When building or remodeling a vehicle, a PC must ‘spend’ a certain number of Hardpoints for the features they wish to include. Hardpoints are also used to determine a vehicle’s total hp. A vehicle can possess up to 45 Hardpoints per Location. Decks When a vehicle gets big enough, it becomes difficult measuring it in Hardpoints. In this case, considering a vehicle's decks can be easier. Each deck is a roughly 30 ft. by 30 ft. by 10 ft. volume, composed of 9 Hardpoints. Note that the shape and arrangements of the Deck isn’t important; Decks are an abstraction used to articulate how large a vehicle is, and when drawing the exact layout of a vehicle, a Deck could be a 40 ft.by 20 ft.area, a 35 ft.by 25 ft.area, etc.. For practical purposes though, a Deck is simply considered to be 9 Hardpoints big. Locations Since vehicles are objects, they can take damage, or even be destroyed, in one location, and be perfectly fine in another location. When a vehicle becomes so large that it's bigger than even the largest of Colossal creatures, it gets broken down into separate Colossal spaces known as Locations. Anything smaller than 45 Hardpoints has only one Location (unless it has sails or a dirigible). A Location is considered a separate object when determining hit points and AC. Each Location on a vehicle must be destroyed to completely destroy the vehicle in question, although it will likely become completely disabled before this point. A vehicle possess multiple Locations if it either possesses more than 45 Hardpoints, or if it possesses sails or a physical dirigible, which always are treated as their own Location. When a Location is wrecked, all of its contents, including weapons, engines, and rooms, become inoperable. A vehicle’s Hardpoints are divided evenly between all Locations. Sails and dirigible are likewise divided into multiple Locations if they are larger than 45 Hardpoints. Size Vehicles (or Locations on Colossal vehicles) have a size. The size of a vehicle is based upon the number of Hardpoints. When a vehicle possesses multiple Locations due to having more than 45 Hardpoints, the vehicle itself is considered Colossal, but each location may have another size. Hardness and Hit Points The Hardness and hp of a vehicle depends on the material of its construction. If a vehicle is constructed of multiple different materials, use the lowest Hardness for determining damage taken, but hp is determined by the material of each Hardpoint. For example, wooden has a Hardness of 5 and 30 hp per Hardpoint. The Location of a set of sails or a dirigible have their own Hardness and hp, presented in their description. Armor Class The actual AC of a vehicle rarely comes into play. When a vehicle is directly engaged in combat, it often utilizes the Mass Combat rules to resolve conflict. If for some reason a vehicle’s AC must be used, it is considered to have a Dexterity score of 0 (-5 penalty to AC) and takes size penalties appropriately. Vehicles with multiple locations may have a different AC for each of these locations. CMB and CMD Just as with AC, a vehicle engaged in combat will rarely need to use a Combat Maneuver Bonus or Defense. In the rare circumstances that it does, vehicles are assumed to have a Strength of 10, no base attack bonus, and apply size bonuses appropriately. Base Save It is rare that a vehicle will ever need to make a saving throw, but if one is called for, the pilot makes these saving throws (as an attended object), or the head engineer if there is no pilot. Base Speed Vehicle's speeds are listed as a multiple of 30 ft per round. This is the maximum speed a vehicle can travel in a single round, before other considerations like wind or current are factored in. If a vehicle's speed is reduced to 0, it cannot move. 1:This distance assumes 3 8-hour shifts manning the engines and piloting. This requires 3 pilots and 3 times the necessary crew to be present. Divide this number by 3 to determine the distance of 8 hours of travel. This is assuming planes hexes. All other hex types can be traveled at ⅔ speed. Maneuverability Just like a flying creature, a vehicle possesses a maneuverability rating, which represents how easy it is to handle and could be Clumsy, Poor, Average, Good, or Perfect. Maneuverability provides a bonus or penalty to all piloting checks equal to the bonuses and penalties provided to the Fly skill. Unlike a flying creature though, a vehicle's maneuverability affects all forms of movement. A vehicle without a pilot cannot turn. Maneuverability is mostly determined by size: A vehicle smaller than Colossal has Average maneuverability, a Colossal-sized vehicle with up to 3 Locations has an Poor maneuverability, while a Colossal-sized vehicle with 4 or more Locations has a maneuverability of Clumsy. A vehicle cannot have a maneuverability worse than Clumsy, and needs special equipment or templates to achieve a maneuverability of Good or Perfect. Mass/Weight A vehicle's mass is determined by the mass of the material times the number of Hardpoints that a material is used for in its hull (not counting sails or dirigibles). A vehicle's weight is equal to twice its mass, but weight is only a factor when considering air vehicles. Carrying Capacity Just like creatures, vehicles have carrying capacities that determines how much cargo, weaponry, and crew it can carry. Instead of using a Strength score to determine a vehicle's carry capacity, vehicles use Hardpoints to determine their light, medium, heavy, and maximum loads. A vehicle carrying less than 2 tons per Hardpoint of hull space is carrying a light load. A vehicle carrying less than 5 ton per Hardpoint is carying a Medium load, which reduces its speed by 1 and its maneuverability by 1 step. When a vehicle carries more than 5 tons per Hardpoint, it is carrying a heavy load and its maneuverability rating is reduced by an additional step. A vehicle with a speed of 0 cannot move. Although dimensions and density of cargo usually determine how much can actually fit into a space, it is much easier to simply determine the load of a vehicle by its tonnage. No vehicle can carry more than 10 tons per Hardpoint, and a vehicle will need Storage rooms if it is to carry anything beyond its passengers, or what equipment is assumed to come with a given room. Each passenger, siege engine, or ton of cargo counts against a vehicle’s total weight allowance. Assume a Medium creature, its gear and personal equipment weighs 0.25 tons, doubling this for each size above Medium. Siege engines list their individual weight. Propulsion and Mediums Vehicles are propelled by 1 of three methods; muscle, engine, and winds or currents. They travel through one of five mediums; land, sea, air, subterranean, or underwater. Muscle Muscle based propulsion is simply when a creature or creatures pull or push a vehicle along. Any type of vehicle can be propelled by a creature that can move through the same medium (water, land, air, etc.). A vehicle requires 1 Large creature per mass. 2 Medium creatures count as a Large creature, and 1 Huge creature counts as 2 Large creatures for this purpose and so on. The vehicle’s speed is equal to twice the base speed of the slowest creature propelling it. If a vehicle is pulled by flying creatures, use the lesser of the creature and vehicle’s maneuverability. A vehicle is can be pulled by more or less creatures than what's required by its mass. If it is being pulled by less than the required number, but at least half, then its speed is reduced by half and its maneuverability by one step. If it is being pulled by less than half, but at least 1/4th, then its speed is reduced to 1/4th and its maneuverability by 2 steps. A vehicle simply cannot be pulled by less than 1 Small creature per mass. This stacks with penalties from encumbrance when determining if the vehicle is simply too heavy to move. While making objects inside the vehicle weightless would lower its encumbrance, making a vehicle itself weightless doesn’t help unless dealing with Air vehicles (see Air Travel below). If at least one and a half the required number of creatures pull a vehicle, reduce its encumbrance level by one. If twice the required number of creatures are pulling a vehicle, reduce its encumbrance level by 2. A vehicle can never carry less than a light load, nor can it ever carry more than 10 tons per Hardpoint. There simply isn’t enough room. If a creature isn’t pulling or pushing a vehicle, and is simply carrying one, the vehicle is not propelled by muscle. Instead it is part of the carrying creature’s encumbrance. Engine An engine is any means of propulsion that is contained within a vehicle, rather than external to it. This can include things such as oars that are powered by muscle, but the muscle power is not pushing or pulling the vehicle, but rather supplying the necessary energy to the vehicles primary means of propulsion. Each engine comes with a Power rating for each Hardpoint that it takes up. Divide this Power rating by the number of Hardpoints of mass to determine the Effective Power. Effective Power is spent on increasing the speed of the vehicle. The first 10 points of Effective Power can increase the vehicle's speed up to 10. The next 20 points must be spent on a 2:1 amount to increase the speed up to 20. The next 30 are spent on a 3:1 amount, and so on until all Effective Power is spent. This pattern continues, increasing the amount of Effective Power for each additional speed by 1 for every 10 speed. If multiple Hardpoints are dedicated to an engine, or multiple engines are used, add up all of their Power ratings to determine the total power of the ship. Every engine has a required number of crew members in order to function properly. This may take the form of rowing, adding fuel, turning a crank, or simply overseeing its functionality to watch for signs that it will explode. An engine manned by less than its required number but at least half produces half power. An engine manned by less than 1/2 but at least 1/4th its required crew produces 1/4th power. An engine cannot function properly if manned by less than 1/4 its required crew. If an engine is reduced to half its total hit points, it gains the broken condition like any other object. A broken engine only generates half its usual power (which stacks multiplicative with a short crew), and if it consumes fuel, consumes twice its normal amount. An engine reduced to 0 hit points is completely destroyed. Mixing Muscle and Engine Power When a vehicle is powered by both engines and muscle, the vehicle’s speed is determined by muscle. Rather than supplying power, the engine instead reduces the ship’s effective mass by an amount equal to the power rating of the engine. Note that no matter how much an engine might reduce a vehicle’s effective mass, the vehicle still cannot be pulled by fewer than 1/4th the number of creatures required by its unaltered mass; even when effectively weightless, too few creatures simply cannot provide the power necessary to move such a big object. If, however, a vehicle’s engine supplies enough power that it gives the vehicle a faster speed than its pushing/pulling creatures, the creatures are not fast enough to affect the vehicle, and might even be trampled if they get in its way. Wind and Current Vehicles can also be propelled by the prevailing winds or currents. When a vehicle is in a current, or is in the air and subject to a wind speed, the vehicle’s speed is increased or decreased by the current or wind’s severity. Simply add the speed of the wind or current to the vehicle if they are traveling in the same direction, or subtract it from the vehicle’s if they are traveling in opposite directions. If this results in a negative number, than the vehicle is pushed backwards. Remember to convert vehicle speed into feet per round, or divide the current’s feet per round by 30 feet before adding. Note that high winds can also check or blow away smaller vehicles, so be careful out there. Land and Water Travel Travel by land and water are fairly straight forward. Difficult terrain may be present when traveling over land, or terrain may outright prevent travel through certain routes. Travel by sea presents its own set of difficulties through currents, and the possibility of shipwreck. Air Travel When traveling through the air, there are two considerations that need to be made: Overcoming Weight, and Altitude. For an air vehicle to fly, it must produce enough force to lift itself. Subtract the weight of a vehicle (which is twice its mass) from an engine’s power before determining its speed or increase the required number of creatures by +1 Large creature per mass, depending on the method of propulsion. Sailing vehicles must be pulled aloft by magic or a dirigible. In addition to the dangers associated with high altitude, flying high can result in more extreme conditions. At 20,000 feet all creatures take 1d6 points of cold damage every minute that they remain at that altitude. Only craft with magical or alchemical engines can climb this high, and even still, only up to 25,000 feet. Subterranean Travel Land vehicles can be modified to burrow beneath the surface, or can be pulled along by burrowing creatures. The following modifiers apply to travel in a subterranean environment: * A vehicle’s movement speed is halved when traveling underground. * No vision. * Creatures in a vehicle that is underground run the risk of slowly suffocating. * A crew using a subterranean vehicle is very likely to get an ambush on another army. Underwater Travel Water vehicles can be modified to dive beneath the waves. For a water vehicle to actually submerge, it needs to both have the covered template, as well as a means of controlling its buoyancy. The following modifiers apply to travel in an underwater environment: * Underwater vehicles and creatures aboard them are subject to pressure due to deep water. * Depths below 3,000 feet in normal water reach temperatures below 40° F. * Other liquid mediums of travel may deal damage in different ways (such as sailing through lava, boiling water, or acid). * At 700 feet deep light levels are reduced to dim light during the day, and total darkness at night. At 3,000 feet deep, it is totally dark unless a vehicle brings a light source. * Like underground travel, underwater travelers are at risk of slowly suffocating. Category:Rules Category:Magitech Update Category:Vehicle